They were both on song at Crownthorpe, Coley breaking the 46s mark with 45.96s in the Top 3 final, while Head finished with 46.47s and Dillon was a step behind in 47.20s.
"Very excited. Five years and a lot of frustrations along the way," Coley said.
"The boat was performing superbly and driving well."
Coley was nervous it would be another rough day when the spark box blew on the first run, but once it was replaced the fates would go his way.
"I just didn't have my head in it all day," said the veteran Dillon. "Rob was absolutely awesome. Congratulated him, he well deserved it."
Coley and Head's ascension, coupled with Dillon's consistency has allowed him to open up a large points spread on Caughey and Minnell, enough that if he had a bad result during either of the last two rounds at Wanaka or Featherston, it would still only bring him back to "even keel" with them. "We've got the series to really think about now. We need another good day to be bulletproof."
"It's a dream come true.
"I haven't had that kind of a [form] run for a long, long time. You'd have to go back to when I was in the Group As in 2000."
Travers also signalled a return to form, as this time he listened to navigator son Shane and did not go the wrong way in his Radioactive boat.
His 51.078s drive in the Top 3 final was comfortable enough over Haden (53.146s) and Wilson (54.082s).
Travers now moves to within two points of Hamilton's Ollie Silverton, who took over the series lead when he screwed up in Meremere.
"We did it this time. We did one of the qualifiers wrong, but it wasn't a big deal," said Travers.
"Ollie finished fourth, his grille came out.
"I like that track, the Hastings track. Rough on the gears, but it's stone-based."
Those stones can come loose if the boats get too close to the sides and can spell disaster if they get in the engine intake, as Travers discovered when he missed out on his victory lap when one stone got in there as he drove up to the bank to collect the checkered flag.
Wanganui's Bevan Linklater had similar problems with stones in his rotors, while Gerry Linklater, who co-drives White Noize, went on to an island in the Top 5 eliminator, meaning the crew had to scrabble to check the engine before Wilson drove in the Top 3.
"His and Bevan's crews did a great job getting [the boats] back out there," Wilson said.
"I'm pretty happy. Hastings doesn't like me too much, had trouble with a hairpin there, as have others."
Wilson's podium spot lets him take over third place on the points table ahead of Wanganui's Donna Thomson, who finished back in tenth.
Now sitting five points behind Travers and seven to Silverton, Wilson admits he'll need luck to retain his national title.
"They'd have to have a bad run - a wrong way or a crash in the Top 8 to 12."
He intends to keep the pressure on when the series rolls into Wanaka's Oxbrow Aquatrack in four weeks.
